Jeff Scott

  • Associate Professor of Horn

Areas of Study

Education

• BM (French horn), Manhattan School of Music
• MM (French horn), State University of New York at Stony Brook

Biography

Jeff Scott served as French hornist of the Oberlin-founded ensemble Imani Winds for more than 20 years, a position that took him to Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and countless other prominent stages—as well as the stage of Finney Chapel for an Artist Recital Series performance in 2014. With Imani Winds, he led master classes with hundreds of students every year.

Scott has been a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theater of Harlem since 1995, and he has performed numerous times with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. He was an orchestra member for The Lion King’s Broadway run from 1997 to 2005, as well as the 1994 revival of Show Boat.

In the studio, Scott has performed on movie soundtracks by Terence Blanchard and Tan Dun, and has collaborated with the likes of Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Chris Brubeck, Jimmy Heath, and others. He has toured with the backing ensembles of Barbra Streisand and Luther Vandross.

Insatiable in his appetite for all aspects of the creative process, Scott has served as composer or arranger for a multitude of projects, including an Off Broadway production of Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee and the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of le Jazz Hot!, in addition to many original works for solo winds and ensembles of all kinds.

Scott is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under David Jolley. He earned a master’s degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook under William Purvis, and he continued his studies with Scott Brubaker and Jerome Ashby.

Notes

Detroit Symphony Orchestra premieres commissioned orchestral work by Jeff Scott

August 13, 2021

Recently appointed Associate Professor of French Horn Jeff Scott will have a newly commissioned orchestral work, "Paradise Valley Serenade" premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jader Bignamini, Music Director, over a three-concert series November 12-14. The work musically depicts the glorious histories of Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, Detroit. These cities were known for their significant African American entrepreneurialism and thriving cultural scene, including an unrivaled Jazz club district. By the 1960's all but a few edifices were razed to make way for highway projects and "urban renewal."

Composition by French horn professor Jeff Scott featured on CSOtv

February 23, 2021

Conservatory French horn professor Jeff Scott is also an accomplished composer. CSOtv, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s streaming platform, features his woodwind quintet work Startin’ Sumthin’ this February, part of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago’s Episode 2 broadcast. You can hear the performance at cso.org/csotv/features/black-history-month.

News

This Week in Photos: In Celebration of Returning Black Alumni

February 4, 2021

Author Ishmael Beah ’04 returned to Oberlin College in 2010 to discuss the publication of his New York Times best-selling book, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Four years later Beah’s visit to Finney Chapel took place after the publication of Radiance of Tomorrow, A Novel, which would go on to become another best-seller. Beah’s visits to campus serve as inspiration for this week’s photo series.

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